the English, speaking of them as rivals in Asia, though
not as foes. He allowed that our infantry were better
than theirs, but thought the Russian cavalry better
than the English. He spoke, too, regretfully of
having to cede the province to the Chinese, for it
made so excellent a frontier, and alluded to the delicate
position in which the Russians were placed with regard
to the natives of Kuldja, who preferred the Tsar’s rule
to that of their old masters the Chinese.*
When it was decided that Kuldja should be given
back to the Chinese, the inhabitants were told that
they might remain or cross the border into Russian
territory. When I was there, less than a year before
the evacuation, numbers of the inhabitants were already
gone ; and to show that their hatred of the Chinese was
not subsided, I may add that, after taking everything
out of their houses that was of value, they set fire to
the remainder, so that their former masters, on taking
possession, should find as little as possible to appropriate.
One report,- probably exaggerated, said that
* The preference for Russian rule of the Muhammadan inhabitants,
whatever may have been the case with the Buddhists, was, I believe,
undoubtedly true, which need create little surprise,- for, if Kostenko
may be believed, the Chinese Government and officials of old were wont
to show their intellectual superiority over the Westerns in a very
haughty and conceited manner, burdening them, moreover, with various
imposts. Besides this the Hi inhabitants were obliged to maintain the
numerous herds of the Bogdi-Khan, or Chinese Emperor, and the
property of the people was never safe. I f any article pleased a Chinese
official he would take it without parley, and it was the same thing if
the wife or daughter of a Dungan or Taranchi pleased him. In addition
to this the people were subjected to many galling humiliations.
On meeting a Chinese, a native of the country was obliged to rise if
sitting, or to dismount if riding. It was a course of such offences,
humiliations, and insults, that at last exhausted all patience, and made
the people rebel. Then it was the Russians stepped in and took
possession of the land on behalf of the Chinese, who, when they had
re-established their power in Kashgar, called upon the Russians to
restore to them Kuldja. The Chinese ambassador went to Petersburg